“We will have to see about that,” Max said. “At least, hopefully, it will have a future.”
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Thank You
For taking your time to share Max and Lil’s adventures. Just as the sound of a tree falling in the forest depends on hearers, a book only matters if it has readers. Please consider sharing your thoughts with other readers in a review on Amazon and/or Goodreads. Or email me at [email protected].
My website at http://www.karenmussernortman.com provides updates on my books, my blog, and photos of our for-real camping trips. Sign up on my website for my email list and get a free download of Bats and Bones.
To my Beta readers, Ginge, Elaine, Marcia, and Butch, thank you for all of the great catches and suggestions. And to all of my readers, especially my advance reader team, words are not enough.
The inspiration for the Mystery Sisters was memories of my Great Aunt Mary, who taught phys ed in Missouri until she was in her seventies. She owned a Studebaker and during the summer would drive up to southern Minnesota, pick up my grandmother, and off they’d go to California or Connecticut or some other exotic place (in my teenaged mind). My cousin says they argued constantly, but they made trip after trip. I stole the names of the sisters (but not the personalities) from three of my youngest aunts--the ones who were between my and my parents generation. They were the ‘cool’ aunts—young and hip. And they were a great example to us all.
Other Books by the Author
The Frannie Shoemaker Campground Mysteries:
Bats and Bones: An IndieBRAG Medallion Honoree. Frannie and Larry Shoemaker are retirees who enjoy weekend camping with their friends in state parks in this new cozy mystery series. They anticipate the usual hiking, campfires, good food, and interesting side trips among the bluffs of beautiful Bat Cave State Park for the long Fourth of July weekend—until a dead body turns up. Confined in the campground and surrounded by strangers, Frannie is drawn into the investigation. Frannie’s persistence and curiosity helps authorities sort through the possible suspects and motives, but almost ends her new sleuth career—and her life—for good. As a bonus, each chapter ends with a camping tip or recipe—some useful, some not so much.
The Blue Coyote: (An IndieBRAG Medallion honoree and a 2013 Chanticleer CLUE finalist) Frannie and Larry Shoemaker love taking their grandchildren, Sabet and Joe, camping with them. But at Bluffs State Park, Frannie finds herself worrying more than usual about their safety, and when another young girl disappears from the campground in broad daylight, her fears increase. Accusations against Larry and her add to the cloud over their heads.
Peete and Repeat: (An IndieBRAG Medallion honoree, 2013 Chanticleer CLUE finalist, and 2014 Chanticleer Mystery and Mayhem finalist) A biking and camping trip to southeastern Minnesota turns into double trouble for Frannie Shoemaker and her friends as she deals with a canoeing mishap and a couple of bodies. Strange happenings in the campground, the nearby nature learning center, and an old power plant complicate the suspect pool and Frannie tries to stay out of it—really—but what can she do?
The Lady of the Lake: (An IndieBRAG Medallion honoree, 2014 Chanticleer CLUE finalist) A trip down memory lane is fine if you don’t stumble on a body. Frannie Shoemaker and her friends camp at Old Dam Trail State Park near one of Donna Nowak’s childhood homes and take in the county fair. But the present intrudes when a body surfaces. Donna becomes the focus of the investigation and Frannie wonders if the police shouldn’t be looking closer at the victim’s many enemies.
To Cache a Killer: Geocaching isn't supposed to be about finding dead bodies. But when retiree, Frannie Shoemaker go camping, standard definitions don't apply. A weekend in a beautiful state park in Iowa buzzes with fund-raising events, a search for Ninja turtles, a bevy of suspects, and lots of great food. But are the campers in the wrong place at the wrong time once too often?
A Campy Christmas: (An IndieBRAG Medallion honoree) A Holiday novella. The Shoemakers and Ferraros plan to spend Christmas in Texas with Larry and Jane Ann’s brother and then take a camping trip through the Southwest. But those plans are stopped cold when they hit a rogue ice storm in Missouri and they end up snowbound in a campground. And that’s just the beginning. Includes recipes and winter camping tips.
The Space Invader: A cozy/thriller mystery! The starry skies over New Mexico, the "Land of Enchantment," may hold secrets of their own. The Shoemakers and the Ferraros, on an extended camping trip, find themselves picking up a souvenir they don't want and taking side trips they didn't plan on.
Real Actors, Not People: Frannie Shoemaker and her friends go camping to get away from the real world. So they are surprised and dismayed to find their wilderness campground the production site of a new 'reality' show--Celebrity Campout. Reality intrudes on their week in the form of accidents, nature, and even murder. They handle the situation with their usual humor, compassion, and mystery solving, because...camping can be murder.
We are NOT Buying a Camper! A prequel to the Frannie Shoemaker Campground Mysteries. Frannie and Larry Shoemaker have busy jobs, two teenagers, and plenty of other demands on their time and sanity. Larry's sister and brother-in-law pester them to try camping for relaxation--time to sit back, enjoy nature, and catch up on naps. After all, what could go wrong? Join Frannie as "RV there yet?" becomes "RV crazy?" and she learns that going back to nature doesn't necessarily mean a simpler life.
Happy Camper Tips and Recipes: All of the tips and recipes from the first four Frannie Shoemaker books in one convenient paperback or Kindle version that you can keep in your camping supplies!
The Time Travel Trailer Series
The Time Travel Trailer: (A Chanticleer 2015 Cygnus award finalist and IndieBRAG Medallion honoree) A 1937 vintage camper trailer half hidden in weeds catches Lynne McBriar’s eye when she is visiting an elderly friend Ben. Ben eagerly sells it to her and she just as eagerly embarks on a restoration. But after each remodel, sleeping in the trailer lands Lynne and her daughter Dinah in a previous decade—exciting, yet frightening. Glimpses of their home town and ancestors fifty or sixty years earlier is exciting and also offers some clues to the mystery of Ben’s lost love. But when Dinah makes a trip on her own, she separates herself from her mother by decades. It is a trip that may upset the future if Lynne and her estranged husband can't team up to bring their daughter back.
Trailer on the Fly: (An IndieBRAG Medallion Honoree) How many of us have wished at some time or other we could go back in time and change an action or a decision or just take back something that was said? But it is what it is. There is no rewind, reboot, delete key or any other trick to change the past, right?
Lynne McBriar can. She buys a 1937 camper that turned out to be a time portal. When she meets a young woman who suffers from serious depression over the loss of a close friend ten years earlier, she has the power to do something about it. And there is no reason not to use that power. Right?
Trailer, Get Your Kicks!: Lynne McBriar swore her vintage trailer would stay in a museum where it would be safe from further time travel. But when a museum in Texas wants to borrow it, she determines that she must deliver it herself. Her husband Kurt convinces her to take it along Route 66 for research he is doing. What starts out as a family vacation soon turns deadly, and ends with a romance unworn by time. Travel can be dangerous any time, but when your trip involves the Time Travel Trailer, who knows where (or when) you will end up?
About the Author
Karen Musser Nortman is the author of the Frannie Shoemaker Campground cozy mystery series, including several IndieBRAG Medallion honorees. After previous incarnations as a secondary social studies teacher (22 years) and a test developer (18 years), she returned to her childhood dream of writing a novel.
Karen and her husband Butch originally tent camped when their children were young and switched to a travel trailer when sleeping on the ground lost its romantic adventure. They take frequent weekend jaunts with friends to parks in Iowa and surrounding states
, plus occasional longer trips. Entertainment on these trips has ranged from geocaching and hiking/biking to barbecue contests, balloon fests, and buck skinners’ rendezvous. Out of these trips came the Frannie Shoemaker Campground Mysteries and now The Time Travel Trailer Series.
More information is available on her website at www.karenmussernortman.com.
The Mystery Sisters series Box Set Page 33